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Just a note to readers: I expect that for the next 3 to 4 weeks I won't be doing all that much blogging here due primarily to our impending move to Keene, NH, and the collision in timing of three different threads of my life: - We've now put up the signs and are officially selling our house here in Burlington, VT. Check out the website for more information, to see pictures, read the blog (yes, of course, it has one), etc. If you want to buy a house in Burlington, we'd love to hear from you. (And personally I'd enjoy it if the ultimate buyer found it through a blog. :-) We're going, at least initially, the For Sale By Owner route so naturally that will occupy some of our time (hopefully!).
- We are closing on our house in Keene, NH, on May 15th, although we are not planning to actually move down there until mid-June.
- A major new project landed on my plate at work that should be both fun and something in which I'll learn a lot... but it's going to be rather all-consuming and the deadline is also right around May 15th.
Add in some presentation deadlines, the ever-constant flow of email and generally the next few weeks look to be rather chaotic. I don't expect to be writing here or probably anywhere other than perhaps Voxeo's blogs (since writing there is part of my job). We'll see. I'm sure I'll still be twittering, because that's so easy to do. Otherwise, I expect you'll see more here starting in mid-June. That's the theory, anyway!
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 What do any of you readers think of the 2.8GHz iMac? Is it worth the extra $450 to upgrade from the 2.4GHz model? It's that time for me... the HP computer I bought five years ago is really showing it's age and just won't run the kind of apps I want to run on it with anything resembling speed. (I've also gotten used to apps running faster on newer computers!) It's also a loud computer... the fan and the disk drives both create a good bit of volume.
So it's time for an upgrade. And, rather than looking at another Windows computer.... yep, I'm thinking of getting an iMac!
In part this is because I'm now using a MacBook Pro on a daily basis and like so much about the operating system and how it works. I also very much like how easily Parallels lets me run Windows apps on the system. And, I enjoy having a real command-line that I can work on. For those and a bunch of other Mac-fan-boy reasons, I'm very happy with the system.
So in considering a new home desktop system, the iMac has entered into my thinking for a number of reasons beyond what I just mentioned. It also has a smaller footprint... and it's quiet! (From what I've seen, anyway.) This is a key concern for someone who does a lot of podcast recording.
At this point my major consideration is this - do I buy the 2.4 GHz model listed at $1799? Or do I go for the 2.8 GHz model at $2249? The main differences seem to be that the higher-end model has: - a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme versus a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2 GB memory standard versus 1GB
- a 500 GB hard drive versus a 320 GB hard drive
So for $450 I get a faster processor, more RAM and a bigger hard drive. It's also a different class of processor, but I don't personally know the difference between a Core 2 Duo and a Core 2 Extreme. (And regardless of system, I'd probably upgrade it to the full 4 GB of supported RAM.)
Is it worth it? That's the question I'm asking myself now.
My general practice for a home desktop machine has been to buy a fairly high-end system and then use it for some number of years until it just doesn't work that well. That's what I'm looking to do again. However, I also don't want to waste money if the upgrade really doesn't make for a stronger system.
Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. (Thanks in advance.)
P.S. On a side note, I find it interesting that in evaluating systems for a new desktop system, physical expandability was not one of my criteria. It used to be that I wanted to make sure I had extra bays for hard drives, etc. Today, though, between moving an increasing amount of my data into the network "cloud" and also USB/Firewire storage, the need for system expandability is less. I find it an interesting change in my thinking.
Technorati Tags:
apple, imac
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It wasn't supposed to work out like this. When we lived in Ottawa from 2000-2005, my wife and I worked our tails off fixing up the old (1930's-vintage) house we had in the Woodroffe North area of Ottawa. We painted basically every surface of the house, added wood doors and French doors and walls, changed out most every light fixture, added wood floors to the rear bedrooms, added a side shed and kayak rack, fencing and did extensive landscaping including bringing in river rock for side walkways, perennial gardens and a patio. We also had someone come in a completely re-do the electrical system, add new countertops, install hardwood floors and more. It was a ton of work and after five years when we were done with most projects and could enjoy it, we decided to sell and move here to Burlington. So we decided to do things differently here in Burlington. Our plan was to get as much done on the (1960's-vintage) house as we could as soon as we could so that we could sit back and enjoy it all. We figured we'd be here for a long time- so we went with that plan. So once again we set about working hard... replacing all the doors with solid wood doors (and a French door) and new hardware, painting all of the walls, installing new light fixtures... and of course extensive landscaping including probably 100 wheelbarrow-fuls of river rock for side walkways, extensive perennial gardens, raised garden beds, a large natural play area for kids... We had someone come in and completely re-do the entire electrical system, install ceiling fans, kitchen counter lighting, new switches, etc. We also had people come in and put in new tile throughout out the kitchen, front foyer and bathroom and new (beautiful!) granite countertops. We just had the upstairs bathroom redone to go from 1960's to a modern spa-like appearance. We have new moulding throughout the first floor, new sinks, new toilets... and, oh, yes, new appliances. Plus we had a fence installed around the entire property with appropriate archways, arbors, etc. And we just last fall had a beautiful walkway put in leading up to the front door. It's been a ton of work and now.... after 2.5 years of doing all of this, when we're basically done with most projects and could enjoy it, what are we doing? Yep... we're selling the house and moving to Keene, NH! Seriously. In fact, we've already entered into a purchase agreement on a house in Keene and will be closing on the property in June as school winds down (or possibly earlier in May). We're in the process of getting our house here in Burlington ready to go on the market next month. Why move? And why Keene? Well, it really comes down to one reason... driving time: - DISTANCE TO SCHOOL - Right now we drive 25 minutes down to the school our daughter goes to in Shelburne. Basically it means that my wife and I are spending two hours of our day commuting to/from the school. With our move, we will be a five minute WALK from the same type of school in Keene. (How two children (my wife and I) of public school teachers, one of whom (me) was going to go into public teaching, decided to send their daughter to a private school is a good topic for another post someday, probably titled "Leaving All Children Behind", but I digress...) So we're exchanging a 25-minute drive for a 5-minute walk (and we can't wait!). This is the year for us to do it, too, as our daughter enters first grade in the fall.
- DISTANCE TO FAMILY - The main reason we moved from Ottawa to Burlington in 2005 was to be closer to our family in NH, VT and CT. We loved Ottawa but just weren't having fun with all the trips back to New England to see family. It's been great in Burlington... we've made day trips to some of our family. But the death of an uncle back in December brought home to us that as close as we are, we're still too far away from some of our family. This move to Keene will basically cut in half our travel time and make it so that now we are in day trip range for all of our immediate family.
We have thoroughly enjoyed living in Burlington and there are many aspects - and many people - that we will definitely miss. (I also won't be able to drive to Quebec to get my curling fix!) Burlington was great also because I could easily drive the 4.5 hours back to Ottawa when I was working for Mitel. Now that I'm no longer needing to go to Ottawa, we had more flexibility with where to live. (And if I won't move to Orlando, where Voxeo is headquarted, they didn't really care where I live.) Why Keene? (See also the city website and the chamber of commerce ("The way life ought to be")) Why not? It's a great small city. We can walk to our daughter's school. We can walk to downtown. We already know people there, including family. It's got multiple colleges. It's got a burgeoning tech scene (as fellow Keene resident Jon Udell discusses in a podcast). It's got plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation. It's got relatively easy access to Boston. About the only thing it doesn't have is a decent airport, which is the one bummer for someone like me who travels 1-2 weeks a month. Instead of a simply 15-minute cab ride across Burlington, I'll have to be driving most of an hour over to Manchester, NH. However, that's definitely balanced out by the quality of life we'll gain in other areas. Our timing could have been better, too... this isn't exactly the best market to try to sell a house. The good news at least is that the neighborhood we live in here in Burlington is a very desirable one. We'll see how that all works for us. So that's the scoop... we're returning back to the Granite State that we left in 2000 to head north to Ottawa. (In an amusing bit of irony, back in 2000 we were living in Hooksett, NH, and thinking about moving either to the Portsmouth area or to Keene... but then I got that fateful call that took me north to Ottawa!) It will be a crazy couple of months ahead of us... wish us luck! :-)
P.S. Anyone want to buy a house in the New North End of Burlington? Drop me a note as we're certainly open to talking now. (We're just waiting to put the house on the market until this <expletives deleted> snow melts so that people can actually see the landscaping we've done!)
Technorati Tags:
danyork, dan york, keene, burlington, vermont, new hampshire
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I have long resisted writing about politics in this blog or any of my other blogs. Not for lack of interest... indeed, I'm a hardcore political junkie who stays up late on every primary night watching returns - and will be tonight. After spending most of my adult life living in New Hampshire, politics just gets infused into your blood. I've worked on multiple political campaigns as a volunteer and spent some long hours on phones, doing mailings and at campaign events. In fact some of the first press conferences and TV/radio work I ever did was when the environmental organization for which I was the N.H. political chair endorsed a certain young, inexperienced southern governor in 1992 who went on to become president. Politics is in my blood and each day it is screaming to come out in words and actions. There is a large part of me that wants to do things like launch a "political blog" and join the chorus of voices seeking to change the direction of this country. Especially now. Today. In this extraordinary moment of time. And yet I found myself agreeing with the opening paragraph of Marc Andreessen's recent post:
I've tried very hard to keep politics out of this blog -- despite nearly overpowering impulses to the contrary -- for two reasons: one, there's no reason to alienate people who don't share my political views, as wrong-headed as those people may clearly be; two, there's no reason to expect my opinion on political issues should be any more valid than any other reader of what, these days, passes for the New York Times. I share those "nearly overpowering impulses". And I share the concern about alienation (and validity). Unfortunately, the sad truth is this: We live in a country divided. And those divisions strike to the heart of our nation. It's not just "Red State" versus "Blue State"... the polls are so much narrower than that. If you look at the results of the last presidential and congressional elections in terms of the popular vote, we as a nation are incredibly divided... literally in half. And worse, we are passionately polarized. The "moderate" middle seems to have continued to shrink dramatically while the extreme sides seem to have strongly gained in numbers. We do not necessarily relish and embrace the differences that have made us so strong as a nation, but rather we revile and reject those with opposing views. If you are on "the other side" you are "un-American" and someone with whom we are not to deal with. Tolerance and respect for opposing views and beliefs at least seems hard to come by. The sides have dug in and are fighting hard. It's not a particularly great environment right now for political discourse. In that context, the communicator in me strongly wants to keep politics completely out of my online writing. The stories I tell and the changes that I attempt to chronicle in blogs like Disruptive Telephony and Disruptive Conversations transcend politics. VoIP doesn't differentiate between Red State and Blue State. The changes of social media are impacting communicators on all sides of the great debates raging within our country. So the question is: Do I want to potentially alienate probably half of my readers? In that context, the (relatively new) employee in me wants to keep politics out of my writing to avoid tension with potential customers. For better or worse, I am one of the "public" faces of my employer and indeed was hired in part to be a public face through our blog site and the online work I do. Although I write here as an individual with the standard disclaimer in my sidebar about my writing ("All opinions expressed here are entirely mine and have no connection to my employer or any other person or organization.") the reality is that in the "Age of Google" anything you write can be found by anyone searching. The "Dan York" of this blog is the same one who writes for my employer's blogs. All the writing is interconnected and easily found - disclaimers to the contrary. So the question is: Do I want to potentially alienate probably half of our customers (who stumble upon my writing)? Now the reality is that probably the vast majority of the readers of my blogs (and any potential customers who might somehow stumble upon my writings) may not care at all what political positions I take. Even if they do, they may certainly be able to let that be and read on. But will all? Is the risk worth it? And yet... In that context, there is still the patriot that lurks inside of me that loves this country and sees the incredible potential that resides here... and wants to speak out. The skeptical idealist who clings to the potentially naive delusion that one more voice added to the chorus can help in some small way... that it is the time for all of us who actually do care about the future of this nation to stand up and let our voices be heard. I see great challenges ahead of us... with our economy... with our relations abroad. There is much to do. I'd like to be yet another voice out there. But can I? How to resolve the conundrum? Do you speak out and run the risks? Or do you stay quiet and sit on the sidelines? For the moment, my choice will be to NOT join in the global online conversation. For the moment I think I'll leave my politics out of my writing... although I'm sure patterns could be deduced from my tweets, saved links and other online info. (Well, that and the fact that I chose to move to Vermont, which just in general has a certain political view.) Am I smart? Or scared? What choice have you made?
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As expected, today Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill moving Massachusetts primary up to February 5, 2008 ( some background here). Let's just call a spade a spade and completely call off the primary process this year! We have no primary "process" any more... we have a primary day! And we all lose. But more on that in a minute... Massachusetts officials offered this rationale: Proponents of the earlier date argued that moving the primary will ensure that Massachusetts has some clout in a presidential race that may be all but decided after Super Tuesday. Exactly. For those not yet following the follies of the US election cycle this time around, in a race for "attention" the entire 2008 process has become, in my opinion, completely screwed up. In past election cycles, the "presidential primary process" provided a longer more deliberative process for choosing the nation's leader. It started off with the traditional Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary typically in mid- to late January. There were then a number of different state primaries leading up to "Super Tuesday" at the beginning of March where a large number of states voted. The remaining states then voted on different days going out through the beginning of June. Take a look at the schedule for the 2004 primaries. Iowa and NH lead off on January 19 and 27. 18 states follow in the next month and then on March 2, Super Tuesday, 10 states voted including the major prize of California (which has a huge number of delegates at stake). Now look at this year's primary schedule. Here's the Democratic schedule (the Republican schedule is similar): - Jan 3 - Iowa
- Jan 8 - New Hampshire
- Jan 15 - Michigan
- Jan 19 - Nevada
- Jan 26 - South Carolina
- Jan 29 - Florida
- Feb 5 - "Super Duper Tuesday"... 22 or so states... the game is over
- .... and then the rest vote
Yes, indeed, February 5, 2008 is now being called " Super Duper Tuesday" or various other names. Desperate to "get more clout" the various states have now moved their primaries up to February 5. With big states in there like California and New York, there will be a huge number of delegates at stake on that one single day. Right now that Wikipedia page is showing 1,943 Democratic delegates up for grabs on Feb 5th (Democratic candidates need 2182 delegates to clinch the nomination) but that doesn't reflect Massachusetts. I would expect that other states like my own state of Vermont will now probably also look to move their primaries forward to February 5th. (Vermont continues to be on March 5th, which was the original "Super Tuesday" with the rest of New England (outside of NH), New York and California.) Why shouldn't they? Effectively none of the primaries after February 5th really matter. It's almost certain that the candidate will be decided in the votes that occur on that one day. The irony of all this is that all of these states moved up their date to "play a greater role in the primary process", but in so doing they really have wound up losing out. It's no longer a game of "retail politics"... of going around and visiting states. The states are no longer accorded much individual attention. It now becomes purely a game of advertising dollars. Whoever has the most dollars to put the most advertising out on the mass media in the most states will probably win. If you are not Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards in the Democratic race, you might as well fold your cards are go home. Your odds of winning are next to zero. It's all now about money. Who has it and who can spend it. Certainly you could argue that it's always been about money, but in the past races the thing was that lesser-known candidates had a chance because they could do well in New Hampshire and Iowa and build upon that to go into the other races. Bill Clinton did exactly that in the 1992 election. He placed second in NH and built upon that to win subsequent primaries. (I remember this quite clearly as I was living in New Hampshire and was active with the Clinton campaign (although after the primary)). There was more time for a lesser-known candidate to emerge. Now, there is no time. The NH primary is 43 days away. "Super Duper Tuesday" is 71 days away. Game over. It's all about who has the most money to get out to the most states right now to win elections on that day. February 5th, 2008. To me this is a rather sorry state of affairs. We all lose, in my opinion. There are some very good candidates on both sides of the election who don't have the money that the front runners do. In another election cycle, they might have honestly had a chance of being seen as a contender. We all might have had more of a chance to hear from them. Now, we probably won't, despite however much they might try. Some will say it's a good thing that the race is over so quickly... candidates will be chosen and they can start bashing each other in preparation for the actual election in November 2008. Perhaps. Some will say that NH and Iowa unfairly get more attention and play a disproportionate role in helping elect candidates (and are not representative of the US population). This is why the parties were moving Nevada and South Carolina forward... in an effort to give more diversity and yet still have smaller races where less-monied candidates could have a chance. But then all the other states wanted to jump in there and so we have the mess we have today... where it all will come down to advertising dollars... and whatever slim chances there were for actual deliberation and evaluation of candidates get completely tossed out the window. We all lose. Technorati Tags: politics
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Are there any readers of this blog in the Burlington, Vermont, area who want to head up to